Cisco

Cisco Certifications test networking professionals on their skills in design, installation, management and troubleshooting of computer networks. Cisco Press, the official publisher of Cisco certification self-study titles, and Pearson IT Certification offer a wide array of Cisco Certification learning tools for CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, and many other Cisco career certifications.

This chapter from CCNA Collaboration CIVND 210-065 Official Cert Guide offers a high-level overview of the solution Cisco offers in IP surveillance. The first section reviews legacy closed-circuit TV (CCTV) video-surveillance architecture and how it has evolved into what is available today. The subsequent sections cover Cisco’s physical security offering, the components involved with their solution, and the architectural design of how all the different elements work together.

Blogs

In trying to understand the value proposition for IT certification, employers and IT pros alike are always interested in finding good answers to the question posed in this blog post's title: "Why hire certified IT pros?" Cert sponsors, always seeking to sell more cert exams and expand their certified populations, are no less interested in providing such answers. A recent study from IDC (October 2015) entitled "The Business Value of IT Certification" provides some interesting and useful answers of interest to all parties.

As that inimitable and always sly soothsayer, Yogi Berra, once said: "It's like deja vu, all over again," when it comes to chart-topping IT skills and technical areas for 2016. There are some recurring themes here to be sure, but also some newer technologies that promise to take up residence on the short list of what's hot for next year.

Ever since I started writing about certification and related IT career development topics back in the mid-1990s, one perennial question I've been posed has been "Which is better: a college degree or IT certification(s)?" This is something I've written about repeatedly, but it's one of those questions that keeps coming up, particularly for cash-strapped youngsters trying to decide if their lmited funds should go to a degree, or some collection of specific IT certifications. For this blog post, I'll give a nod to an interesting and informative article over at GoCertify, and then revisit the issue yet one more time because of its enduring relevance to current and aspiring IT pros of all ages.

If you're in the market for cert books, practice tests, or video training materials, head on over to Pearson IT Certification, where you'll find savings of up to 55% on a storewide basis (you must buy two or more items to get the big discount; single items get 35% off instead).